Beach Birthday
by SiriusMarauderFan
Summary: Dean decides the occupants of Shell Cottage need to have a little fun. one shot.
**Author's Note:** Written for Akela Victoire, for the April Exchange – even though it's now May. :P (I'm so sorry!)

Luna/Dean – friendship/romance – impress, blue, cake

 **Beach Birthday**

Dean sighed into his glass of juice, watching a seagull circling over the beach through the kitchen window.

"Are you all right, Dean?"

He turned to find Luna watching him from the door frame, her head tilted slightly like a curious puppy.

"You seem out of sorts," she continued when he didn't answer.

"It's my sister's birthday," he said quietly, staring into his glass. The date had been the only thing on his mind since he'd arrived at Shell Cottage nearly a month before. His family always made a big deal about birthdays, and he hoped the war wasn't interfering with that.

"You miss them," the small blonde deduced as she poured a bowl of cereal and sat down at the kitchen table.

Dean joined her after watching the lone seagull fly away.

"It's been nine months since I've seen my family. I'm worried about them," he confided in her, and felt instantly stupid afterward. Luna's father, her last remaining relative, was right in the thick of the fight. At least Dean's family were muggles. They may have still been in danger, but there was a greater chance they would make it out alive.

To her credit, Luna said nothing of her own fears. She stirred her cereal thoughtfully and said, "Tell me about your family."

Dean looked down at the table guiltily. He didn't want to discuss this anymore if it would make Luna upset. But she had asked.

"Holly's twelve today. She's … she's really headstrong. Rory – that's my stepdad – he says she gets it from our mum. And then there's Cathy, who's ten. She wants to be a dancer." He smiled to himself. "They're great kids. They love magic. I send them chocolate frogs and little toys I find in Hogsmeade. This will be the first year I haven't sent gifts on their birthdays."

He looked up and met Luna's silvery blue-grey eyes. She was smiling brightly at him, and he was relieved he hadn't made her sad.

"I'm sure your sisters know how much you love them, and that you would be there if you could."

She took her bowl and Dean's empty glass to the sink and began washing them by hand. "We don't celebrate birthdays in my family."

Dean stared at her for a moment. "How is that possible? I thought everyone celebrated birthdays." He would have assumed it was a wizarding thing, but Seamus always acted like an excitable five year old when his birthday came around.

"It was always my mum and dad and I," Luna explained. "Every day. We didn't have any other family."

' _Or friends_ ,' Dean thought.

"Birthdays were just another day. And when I started Hogwarts, Daddy and I spent the day apart anyway."

"When is your birthday?"

She paused in the washing to stare at him strangely. "February thirteenth." She continued cleaning and it occurred to Dean that he may have been one of the first people to ask.

It seemed unbearably sad to him, not having friends. He'd always spent his afternoons playing football with the neighborhood kids, most of whom he still played with in the summer. And not having a birthday … that was just silly. He didn't remember back before his mum married Rory, but he had pictures from his first and second birthdays. It was just him and his mum in front of a cake with a present or two. She had made an effort to make his birthday special, unlike Luna's dad, it seemed.

He felt bad for her in a way he hadn't thought of anyone in the past year. On the run he'd wondered about his family a lot. Harry and Seamus and Ginny, too. There were a lot of people in the middle of the fight that he worried about, but there were even more people going about their lives and dealing with the effects the fighting had on the world.

Dean had never thought much of Luna back when they were in the DA, but now he understood her a little better. She impressed him with her unwavering cheerfulness after being in a Death Eater's dungeon for over two months.

It was still bothering him later that night as he lay in bed with another bout of insomnia. He remembered his last birthday at Hogwarts, his seventeenth, and Seamus' insistence that they do something special to commemorate it. He'd bought Dean an expensive art supply set.

Luna had spent her seventeenth birthday as the You-Know-Who's prisoner.

And maybe it was the insomnia, or the fact that Dean was becoming increasingly bored at Shell Cottage, but he wasn't about to let Luna go another day without a proper birthday.

The cottage was strangely quiet for eleven at night. Lately Dean would come downstairs to find at least one other occupant reading or listening to Potterwatch. Tonight, it seemed, he was alone.

Dean took a moment to appraise the situation and make a plan. The cottage could do with some decorations. A banner over the fireplace would look nice. Balloons would've been great, but he didn't have any or even a wand to conjure some up. Baking he could do easily, no magic required, and no party was complete without a cake.

It took less than fifteen minutes to get the cake in the oven, and then he started on decorations. Fleur had been gracious enough to supply Dean with paper and inks at the start of his stay at the cottage. Sketching had helped to occupy his time, but it was nice to put his talent to better use after such a long time.

' _Happy Birthday, Luna!_ ' hung above the mantel, flashing a new color every minute. Dean decided to add a paper flower garland twisting around the rafters since he had some time while the cake cooled.

He didn't know Luna's favorite color, but decided on blue icing to represent her house and the water where they'd spent so much of their free time. After it was covered, it was easy to MacGyver a napkin into a piping bag to create little flowers and seashells.

Cake decorating, Dean decided, wasn't too different from painting.

:-:

Bill and Fleur were thankfully on board with the party and even more excited than Dean. Bill transfigured glasses into balloons and shrunk candlesticks to fit on the cake while Fleur went through her jewellery box to find something to give Luna.

"Eet is not fair she should not 'ave something preeetty to wear on 'er birthday," she told Dean as she wrapped up a white gold bracelet.

Luna was always late coming down to breakfast. She would wait in her room until Ollivander was awake to be able to escort him downstairs. They were on their way down by the time Dean and the Weasleys had everything ready.

"This is beautiful," Luna breathed as she reached the bottom of the stairs and took in the decorations. "But it's not my birthday."

"Dean didn't think it was right that you didn't have a proper birthday. And neither do we, for that matter," Bill explained when Dean stayed silent.

"A seventeenth birthday is an important milestone, Miss Lovegood," Ollivander agreed. "You mustn't let it slip by unnoticed."

Luna smiled at them and made her way to Dean, who was hiding in the corner by the cake. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, taking him by surprise.

"Thank you so much," she whispered.

Dean returned the smile as they pulled away. He quickly reached for a wrapped gift box by the cake and handed it to her. He'd drawn the picture a week ago of Luna reading on the beach, as he'd watched her do every day since they arrived.

"Happy birthday, Luna."


End file.
